By Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – A barangay chairman, who was implicated in the killing of four policemen in Sitio Yamot, Barangay Mabato in Ayungon, Negros Oriental last Thursday, reportedly took his own life Monday.
According to Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office Chief Colonel Raul Tacaca, Barangay Awaan Chairperson Sunny Caldera, 51, was found unconscious by the roadside where he fell after violent bouts of vomiting.
According to investigators, Caldera may have drunk the contents of a bottle of pesticide, which was found beside him.
He was brought to Bindoy District Hospital, and was referred to Siliman Medical Center, where he expired around 11 a.m. the following day.
Tacaca said Caldera was subject of an investigation looking into the slay of the four policemen.
Apparently, one of the four victims was still able to talk to him before the ambush, asking him about the reported presence of armed men in the area.
According to Tacaca, this made authorities suspicious of Caldera because he did not even warn the policemen of the presence of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels when the ambush was pulled off in his area of responsibility.
Killed in the ambush last week were Police Corporal Relebert Beronio, and Patrolmen Raffy Callao, Roel Cabellon, and Marquino de Leon, who were all members of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-7.